Higher Love
by klutzysunshine
Summary: Based on spoilers and speculation. Grant Ward's love for Skye is so strong that Hive (now furious) finds he can't kill her because of it. This sets off a chain of events that nobody quite expected.
**I don't own Agents of SHIELD nor will I ever. No copyright infringement intended.**

* * *

Hive had encountered Coulson and his team (including Skye) quite a few times but he had never been one on one with the Inhuman until now. He eyed her in curiosity as she glared at him. Unable to fight back since her powers didn't work on the ancient Inhuman, Skye tried to weigh her options and hoped to get out of here without injuring herself (she wasn't up for a trip to the medical wing). "So are you just going to sit here and monologue?" she snarked.

Hive chuckled and the sound sent a wave of fear through her. "You'd think that, wouldn't you? Grant Ward loved that you were sarcastic. Frankly, I can't understand why."

"You're monologuing now," Skye pointed out, rolling her eyes at the man who seemed so familiar but was in reality a stranger. She just hoped the team showed up soon so she could kick some ass and then retreat back to the Playground because they needed to figure out a strategy to take down Hive permanently.

Unmoved, Hive could only stand there and watch Skye with a critical gaze, unnerving her. "I want to kill you, Agent Johnson."

"Then go ahead and do it!" she taunted, not even fearing for her life. Skye refused to beg and if this was it? At least she'd done some good in this world.

"I've lost my patience," he snarled and went to raise his hand but dropped it at the last second, something preventing him from murdering the SHIELD agent in front of him. "What is happening?"

"I'd like to know the same," piped up Skye, shrinking back so as to not upset the ancient Inhuman even further. She wasn't stupid and didn't plan on pissing Hive off enough that he did go through with murdering her. While she wasn't exactly scared of dying, she didn't want to go down like this.

Hive tried to understand why he couldn't hurt the woman in front of him and the answer swirling in his mind confused him. He cringed when the host - still locked deeply inside of him as a result of his rebirth all those weeks ago - started screaming again. He cocked his head and stared at Skye curiously. "He loved you."

An incredulous Skye snorted. "Yeah, okay. Whatever you say."

"I have access to all his memories, iQuake/i. There is something preventing me from killing you, and I believe it's love? But I feel nothing so that must not be right." The confusion blooming on his face seemed genuine and it almost convinced her.

"So Grant Ward loved me. You're not him and never will be him."

He tried to raise his hand up again but it wouldn't budge this time and he kicked the wall in front of him. "Grant Ward was very deeply in love with you and I cannot harm you." Hive was catching feelings from his host, something which hadn't happened when he taunted Jemma Simmons with Will Daniels' love for her, and wanted to murder somebody as soon as possible. He needed to work his rage out on someone.

Skye couldn't comprehend what was happening. "What?"

The love flowing throughout his body only enraged Hive even further. "Get out of here now," he urged. He punched the wall for good measure and then growled at her, "We will meet again and you will pay," he vowed, surprised to find out that he didn't really mean it.

Skye took off like a bat out of hell as she tried to escape the ancient Inhuman and decided her first step after finding safety should be to call her team.

Meanwhile, Hive decided he needed to work out some of this frustrations immediately and headed out of the warehouse in the opposite direction to find Gideon and Stephanie Malick.

* * *

As soon as Zephyr One arrived at the base, Skye ignored Coulson calling her back (he wanted her for a briefing) and took off towards her room, her heart pounding. She collapsed on the bed and tried to come to terms with the bomb Hive dropped on her. Skye had known for a while that Grant loved her but the fact that Hive couldn't harm her because of it was mind-blowing. Did Lincoln love her like that? She seriously doubted it and now she was looking at her relationship (and Grant) in a different light. She felt something dripping down her face, surprised to find that she was now crying. After months of pushing away her grief over Grant's death, she curled up in a ball and sobbed for the man she lost without ever telling him she understood.

* * *

Gideon and Stephanie strolled in after watching Hive go to town on multiple humans and Inhumans, determined to take his rage out on them. "He's beautiful and I can't wait to see him burn down the world," Stephanie murmured to her father.

"It'll be better than ever," Gideon promised her.

The now bloody Hive lifted his head up. "I ran into Agent Johnson on her own."

"Did you kill her?" a delighted and hopeful Stephanie questioned.

"No. I felt something - something disgusting - for the bitch and couldn't do it, She will pay," he vowed.

Gideon pursed his lips. "What was it you felt?"

"Love," he barked before letting out a roar and destroying the couch.

Stephanie couldn't comprehend what he was saying. "Love. Are you in love with Skye 'Daisy' Johnson?"

"I am not, little girl, but the host was so deeply in love with her that it prevented me from murdering her."

The rage on his face pleased her - she wanted to watch that rage destroy everything and everyone around them. "Channel your rage into something productive and kill more," she instructed.

"Now let's not get ahead of ourselves. There's a plan," Gideon tried.

Sick of the old man waxing poetic in front of him, Hive held his hand up and grinned when he collapsed to the ground, dead.

Stephanie looked at him in horror before kneeling down next to her father. "Daddy!" she cried.

"Are you angry that he's gone?" Hive probed.

She dropped her father's hand and stood up. "It was for the greater good. Let me help you with whatever is it you need to do."

"We're going to attack their base and bring down SHIELD." He couldn't let this go and Skye would die, whether the host wanted her to or not.

* * *

Once Skye calmed down, she walked across the hall and knocked on Lincoln's door, which he opened quickly. "What's going on? You look upset," he discerned.

She got straight to the point. "Do you love me?"

"Yeah. Why do you want to know?"

"How much?"

Lincoln stared at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Do you love me so much that the ancient Inhuman in your body wouldn't be able to kill me, even after your death?" Skye pressed.

"Oh." He exhaled and walked down to his bed, sitting down. "You want to tell me what happened?"

"Just answer the question!" Skye snapped.

A few moments of silence and then, "I'm not sure."

She snorted. "That's how much Grant Ward loved me - Hive couldn't kill me even though he obviously wanted to." A quick pang of grief and hurt went through her again but she quashed it. "We're over, Lincoln. I deserve better than you."

He wanted to lash out but refrained and decided to work out his frustrations in the gym. "Fine. Whatever the fuck you want, Daisy."

"Skye," she corrected. She was tired of trying to be someone she wasn't in hopes that her life would improve and she could forget all about the past.

"Get out!" he ordered.

She nodded and scurried back to her room, hoping to come up with a solution that saved Grant Ward (even though he was still dead) from Hive's influence and finally kill the ancient Inhuman residing in his body.

* * *

They were all unprepared and thus caught off guard the next day when Hive showed up (with Stephanie in tow) to kill them all - he actually succeeded with some of the recruits but the others were prepared for him by the time he got to them. "Are you sure this is going to work?" a skeptical Jemma asked.

"I know what I'm doing. You got the cure?" Skye needed to make sure nothing went to shit.

Jemma nodded. "And you're convinced this isn't going to end with us all dying horrible deaths?" Fitz laughed nervously, his hands shaking.

"I trust her judgment," Melinda chimed in, prepared to battle Hive. She didn't have the same hope Daisy (damn it, Skye again - she needed to remember that) did.

Phil had repeatedly told them he was against the plan but had reluctantly agreed to help after Skye punched him and viciously tore into him for his role in this whole mess. "I'm with Fitz. This is going to backfire. Surely Ward didn't love you that much." He backed off when Skye glared daggers at him.

When the lab door blew open and Hive and Stephanie strolled in, the team had mostly calmed down. "Phil. Long time no see. I thank you for murdering the host. Too bad I have to repay your kindness this way."

"Go to hell!" Phil shot back.

"Don't," Melinda hissed.

"She's right. You don't want to poke the bear. That is the expression, right? Humans and their phrases." Hive just shook his head.

"Where's your father?" a suddenly brave Jemma asked Stephanie.

"Dead but it was for the greater good. I'm grieving for him but he needed to be sacrificed," Stephanie answered.

All of them stared at her in shock. "Okay then." Fitz just shook his head in disbelief.

Skye held the needle filled with the cure behind her back (she was still deeply against using it for Inhumans but unfortunately, it was needed in this case to defeat Hive). "I know you're in there somewhere, Grant." At least she hoped so but she tried to sound confident enough that Hive believed it.

No such luck. He threw his head back and laughed. "You silly little girl. You still don't get it, do you? He's dead and gone. There's nothing left." The host started screaming again in protest and his eye twitched in annoyance.

She only smiled. "He loves me so you lose. You don't understand what love even means."

"I know that Will Daniels stupidly died to save Agent Simmons because he believed he loved her. You remember how that was his last thought, Jemma?"

She glared at him. "Fuck you."

Hive clicked his tongue. "Now that's just rude."

Stephanie waited impatiently for the show to get on the road. "Can you just kill her already?" She wanted to do it herself but Hive insisted he be the one to kill Skye.

"Patience. And I'm going to enjoy watching the life drain from your eyes, Skye."

"But you can't do that, can you? His feelings for me are coming through loud and clear so even now you're struggling," Skye guessed.

With Hive distracted, Melinda raised her gun and before anyone could react, shot Stephanie. She fell to the floor already dead.

Hive only shrugged. "I can find another soldier. I didn't need either of the Malicks. And you think quite highly of yourself, Agent Johnson." But she was right - he still couldn't bring herself to murder her.

Skye walked right up to Hive and tearfully smiled at him, suddenly confident that this would go as planned. Hive had made a mistake coming only with Stephanie. "I do," she acknowledged. "Grant, I want you to know that I'm fighting for you so hold on." She wanted to tell him that she loved him too but she wanted him to hear it when he was himself and not when he was possessed.

Hive stared warmly at her and berated himself for it. "That's cute." Fuck, why couldn't he do this?

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Skye whipped out the needle and stabbed him right in the neck. "Go to Hell!"

"What did you just do?" he questioned in surprise as his body started to weaken.

"Curing you," Jemma answered. "I hope you rot in Hell for what you did to Will."

Goo started to drip out of his body and Skye jumped back, the others following suit. The cure worked twofold - while it cured Grant Ward of his possession, it didn't exactly kill Hive. With a freshly dead Stephanie Malick in the vicinity (which they should have accounted for but didn't - something they'd kick themselves for almost immediately), a liquid Hive slithered over to her body and jumped into her.

None of them paying any attention to it, the team failed to notice this. Skye dropped to Grant's side and let out a cry of relief and shock when she found a weak but steady pulse. "He's still alive!" she sobbed to Jemma.

"We need to run some tests. Help me get him into a bed," Jemma ordered. With Fitz and Mack's help, she was able to do so and immediately began running a battery of tests.

"Oh fuck," Mack murmured when he turned around and saw Stephanie's body had disappeared.

"We'll take care of it later. Hive's weakened now," Melinda told him.

"I hope you're right." Mack didn't want to think about how pissed off the ancient Inhuman was now - and this time, Grant Ward's feelings for Skye wouldn't save her (at least he didn't think so).

"Make sure he's stabilized and we'll figure out what to do once he wakes up," Phil ordered.

Skye snorted. "We're not doing a damn thing. You're granting him a full pardon and he will be rehabilitated. I'm not letting us make the mistakes we did last time." They had all fucked up and it was time they admitted it.

He wasn't happy about it but sighed. "Fine," he agreed and then left, hoping to somehow clean up the new mess on their hands.

* * *

Skye curled up in a chair next to Grant's bed once everything settled down and he was stabilized. Jemma had no clue how he'd be once he woke up but Skye had faith that something was going to work out in their favor for once. She grasped Grant's hand and refused to let go. Just starting to close her eyes as the exhaustion caught up to her, Skye sprung awake when she felt Grant's hand squeeze her own. "Grant?"

"Skye," he whispered in awe.

She laughed and then started crying again. "I'm a mess. Sorry."

"Nothing to apologize for." He yawned and tried to smile but the trauma of his possession (and his life that he had been trying to ignore in favor of becoming the villain) wouldn't let him since fear was overwhelming him.

Skye saw right through him and her heart broke. "Hey, you have nothing to be scared about," she soothed. "I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."

"You're protecting me?"

"I am," she confirmed as Grant's eyes started to flutter, fatigue once again catching up to him. He was asleep within seconds but she was right there by his side (after Fitz forced her to shower and eat something) when he opened them the next morning.

"Why are you doing this?" Grant asked, curious.

"Because," Skye hedged, not wanting to confess her feelings for him while he was stuck in a hospital bed. Besides, she didn't want to scare him off, especially when he was still reeling from his death and possession. They needed to take their time.

"Because why?" he pressed. Skye couldn't be doing this for the reason he hoped. It was too little, too late, and he had to accept that - she deserved to be happy.

"You're not going to make this easy are you," she huffed.

Grant shrugged. "I don't know why you saved me, Skye. I deserved to die but here I am." He was grateful but confused.

"Don't ever say that. Grant, you didn't deserve to die the way you did - I don't even recognize Coulson anymore. And do you know why Hive spared me?" This conversation could wait until another day but she was impatient.

His eyes widened. "Yes."

Skye beamed at him. "I love you too. I tried to pretend that I didn't, tried to pretend I was someone else but as you can see, that didn't work out too well for me. So I'm done with all that shit. You're the man I want to be with you - but only when you're ready. I'm not going to push you into anything because you need to heal. That's more important," she stressed.

He grinned back at her and it seemed to light up the whole room. "I love you too but I'm definitely not ready to be in any time of relationship right now," Grant reluctantly admitted, hating himself for it.

"Then we'll take it slow - there's nothing wrong with that." She didn't mention that Hive was still out there, ready to strike at any moment, because she didn't want to scare the shit out of him - he was already terrified and struggling. They'd take care of it and end Hive permanently soon enough.

Skye leaned down and kissed him then sat back down in her chair. "You have a lot to catch up on and I intend to make sure you're up to speed, Grant."

Grant smiled at her but it didn't reach his eyes. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Good."

Grant's love for Skye had saved her and returned her to the path she was meant to be on. There would be dark days ahead for him but she'd be by his side every step of the way, supporting him through his various traumas. And Hive remained a threat but they all came together to devise a plan to take him out for good, with Grant helping because of what he knew from his own experience with the ancient Inhuman. Forgiveness and redemption were slow-going but that was just fine with him and he intended to make the most of this second chance he had been granted. Unfortunately, all hell was about to break loose on them again.


End file.
